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Christmas and Chanukkah on same day

December 25th, 2005

After Christmas dinner today at fj and pinkfish's, someone was wondering how frequently does the first night of Chanukkah fall on Christmas day. I surmised that if it were on the nth day of a certain month and that since there were either 12 or 13 months in a year it would be approximately every 60 years. This would be a good reason for most people not remembering a prior occurance.

And sure enough, a quick web check about Jewish calendars showed that Channukah falls on the 25th of Kislev, the 9th month.

I suspect it has something to do with the Sabbath. At the Help link there: http://www.hebcal.com/help/holidays2.html#sunday-fast-days it states that someimes festivals are moved one way or the other because of the Sabbath. Christmas was a Thursday that year, and I think that the 8th day fell on a Sabbath. In any case, lunar/solar correspondences are somewhat difficult.

It doesn't have to do with the Sabbath; Hannuka is 8 days, and there's always at least one Sabbath in it. People light larger-than-usual candles just before Shabbat starts, and that's good for that night.

It might have to do with when the leap days/leap months worked out, something like that.

Hey thanks for sharing this. I asked the same question to eric_mathgeek at my evening gathering, and it was a nice topic of discussion. But not even the jews in the room knew how Hannukah was determined!

by the way, After Glenn and I left yesterday, he said, "Please tell me those two are brothers, and not a couple." I had to reply, "Sorry, I guess that's what happens after over 30 years with someone. And besides, that's what ALL aging computer geeks look like!" :-)